Meat, it's what's for the Lesson

Once again, we had 3 hours to teach the students about the entire world of red meat. I started with asking why people are vegetarians -- answers were "don't like the taste" and "they like animals." I broke it down into two categories -- ethical and health, and would not address the 1st, as this is a cooking class, not a philosophy class. If your going to work in a restaurant 98% of the time you're going to have to deal with meat.

Health is another story. Today we were working with chopped meat, one of the most dangerous meat products out there. I explained the process of unhealthy, overcrowded cow pens in industrial farms, how they are forced to eat grains instead of hay, the use of antibiotics to keep them well, and the act of slaughtering is so fast that when the carcasses are cleaned, some poo remains. If you have a solid piece of muscle (like the pork chops we would be cooking), it's a relatively simple task to clean the meat at some point in production -- all the bad stuff is at the surface.

But if you send the meat to the grinder, all the bad stuff is mixed up all the way through. There are limited ways to make the meat clean now -- you can treat it with ammonia, but that stinks and destroys the meat's flavor. You can cook it thoroughly to kill all bacteria, but the fat runs out and you have tough, crumbly cooked meat with little flavor.

So you can do what McDonald's does -- take this crappy, cheap ground meat and add fillers to soften and give flavor to the meat, typically soy product and bean gums. And to a certain extent, that's what we'd be doing today with our meatballs (recipes here) -- adding things to the chopped meat so that it would still be delicious after being cooked at a fiery 550 degrees.

We set to work on making the meatball mix, a traditional spaghetti sauce and a sheet of polenta. Like last semester, the polenta failed -- we didn't have to to saute it, and it just looked and tasted unappealing. This time we used a big enough pot, and the pasta cooked correctly, but we let it go for the minutes on the package and was a tad too soft -- should of cut back by 2 minutes. The sauce was great, but not enough of it. The meatballs, well, Louis from the restaurant where I got the recipe recommended doubling the bread, but the meatballs came out TOO soft and mushy, despite being well done.

Lastly, I had the students saute pork loin chops in a pan, getting a nice brown fond on the meat and the pan before resting the meat on a rack, then making a simple pan sauce in the pan with wine, shallots, stock, salt and finishing with butter. The chops and the sauce went down surprisingly well.

Next week, a new lesson -- pastry.

Feel like ch-ch-ch-ch-chicken toniiiite!

For the second lesson of the second semester, I stuck to the recipes and format (see this post for the gory details) but ran the class a lot smoother, ending on time for the second week in a row. We started with the question: what is cooking? It is applying heat to food to change it's nature. Last week we were chopping, mixing, blending, all preparation. That's legit, and there can not be cooking without preparation, but it is not cooking. Last week we prepared. Today, we step up and cook!

But not before preparing. These kids still have no knife skills, so first thing was to whip out 20 lbs of russets and have them cube them off (rather than peel), then make small cubes. Once that was done, I took a few kids to be on potato duty, while the others did soup-chop on a selection of vegetables for stock. The potatoes were boiled, drained, spread on a sheet and baked for a minute to make them perfectly dry, run through a food mill then mixed with an obscene amount of cream, milk, butter and salt. I stopped the class, had everyone come over and had them taste it without salt. Then I seasoned and made them taste it again. I got the "AH HA!" moment I was looking for in the smoothies last week. Loose, creamy and outta sight!

The stock pot got full, covered with cold water and set to boil. After 20 minutes, I showed the class how to make a sachet d'espices (parsley, thyme, bay leaf, cracked peppercorn in a tied-off cheese clothe) and added it to the stock. Last time, I attempted to make vegetable soup in the same session but there wasn't enough time. This time, the stock went into the freezer right after.

Ten heads of Swiss chard were deveined, cleaned and chopped up. I took four students, assigned them one fat (chicken fat, butter, sesame oil and peanut oil) and had them slow saute onion half-moons to soft, then slightly brown. The chard got boiled for a minutes, drained, thrown in ice water for blanching and shocking. Once the onions looked right, we through in the chard, chopped up kalamata olives and adjusted with salt.

It was only 5pm! I made a promise if the kids were to hustle and clean up and we had time, I would show them how to bread and fry chicken breasts properly. I really expected to not do this, but these kids did not have to be ridden to clean up. Once they had finished their tasks, they started cleaning every time. So I busted out 8 breasts, sliced each one in half at a 33 degree angle to kinda keep the thicknesses even. I set up the SBP -- standard breading procedure. First bowl, AP flour. Second, egg wash with whole egg and milk. Third, the breading, in this case wholewheat panko breadcrumbs, AP flour and salt. In a preheated rondeau, dumped about 1/4 of an inch of peanut oil. Once the chicken got dipped in each bowl, using alternate hands to prevent the creation of a batter mitt, the chicken went straight into the oil. Flipped after about 5 minutes, when the first came out I asked them how do you know it's done? Ya take a small knife, make a slit on the underside and you peek into the middle! It looked fully white, but still juicy. One student insisted in looked slightly pink, but it was JUST right. It was probably pink 30 seconds before, but in this state it was still very juicy.

So the meal was pretty complete -- crunchy panko chicken breast, Swiss chard with onion, and whipped potatoes. As we did last week with the time, we went around the table after the main feed was done and said what we liked most and what we liked least about class. Most said the best part was eating. Some kids says there was no bad, which is nice, a few said tasting the kalamata olives were the worst, or the cutting of onions, or wot-not. Compliments all around about the chicken, which was nice. Makes me think I should make something like that, simple but interesting, at home more often.

Next week is salads, both mixed and composed, as well as some additional things, as we'll be cooking for Thursday's PTA conferences, too!

Meaty Meat

How does one teach about the entire world of meat in one three hour session, when an hour of it is dedicated to lecture and clean up? One can not. On top of that, half the class was absent, probably due to a combination of being burned out of the two intense days it took to get Thanksgiving lunch out to 150 mouths and the pressures of the holiday season. One thing for certain -- they didn't flake because of the menu: they all love their meat.

Meat is edible animal product, typically muscle, fat and bone. Other animal products, such as skin and offal (organs), are edible but not "meat", and then there are certain animal products, like hair, leather and waste, which are neither meat nor edible.

The USDA recommends all meat be cooked to an internal temperature of 165˚. That would guarantee all meat to be at best well-done, at worst barely edible shoe leather. Meat loses flavor, texture, and color at these temperatures. If meat is sourced from a reliable (read: not dirt cheap), known vendor, is treated correctly, and cooked correctly, illness from meat (in this country) is very overhyped.

The exception to that is ground meat: Because the outside of the meat is where all the filth is -- and where it can be cooked away at temps well above 165 without destroying the meat, is broken up and mixed in, right to the middle and the sides. But won't ground meat be inedible if cooked well above 165˚? Well, not necessarily, because we can mix stuff in to help it retain what we like about it. Take this meatball recipe, for instance....

ESTELLE’S MEATBALLS

Yield: About 85 balls

Chopped Meat 10 lbs
Italian bread, chopped, soaked 2 loaves
Onions, finely minced 4 each
Romano, grated 3 cups
Parsley, with stems, chopped 1 bunch
Breadcrumbs ½ cup
Salt 4 tablespoons
Pepper 2 tablespoons
Eggs, beaten 4 each

1. Oil two hotel pans. Preheat oven to 550˚. Press chopped, soaked bread through colander to remove as much moisture as possible.
2. Loosen chopped meat in a large bowl by hand. Mix in soaked bread, onion, Romano and parsley. Mix by hand until just combined.
3. Add breadcrumbs, if needed, if mixture is too moist.
4. Add salt, pepper and eggs until just combined.
5. Roll lightly into 3 oz. balls – DO NOT OVERROLL.
6. Bake in oven until done, 10-15 minutes.

This recipe comes from the mother of the chef for whom I worked before my baby was born. While meat becomes gray, chewy, and dry if cooked at a high temperature in an oven, the feel of the ball is retained by the mushed bread and the mushed moist onion. Cheese and eggs also serve as binders and replace some of the fat that runs out of the meat during cooking. When these came out of the oven, they were very mushy to the bite; once they came close to room temperature, they firmed up to just the right consistency.

It's important in this recipe not to overroll and not to overmix, or your balls will turn into lead pellets when they cool.

And what's a meat ball without some nice tomato sauce...

BASIC TOMATO SAUCE

Yield: 4 cups

EVOO ¼ cup
Onion, small dice 1 large onion
Garlic, minced 4 cloves
Thyme, chopped 3 tbsp
Oregano, chopped 2 tbsp
Carrot, grated 1 each
Basil, chiffonade 3 tbsp
Whole peeled tomatoes, milled 2 28oz cans
Salt to taste

1. Heat olive oil in saucepan. Soften onion, then add garlic for 1 additional minute.
2. Add thyme, oregano and carrot and cook until carrot is soft, about five minutes
3. Add tomatoes and basil. Simmer until thickened, about 30 minutes.

I adapted this recipe from Batali, a nice simple sauce. He just adds thyme, which I find a bit one-dimensional, and I mill my tomatoes while he hand-smushes them, which I find makes for a very watery/chunky sauce.

Sauteed meat is an a la minute preparation -- once it's out of the pan and rested for half the time it took to cook, it needs to be served. So we made a simple polenta before we got our steaks on...

POLENTA

Yield: 8 servings

Water 4 cups
Yellow corn meal 1 cup
Salt 1 tbsp
Parmesan, grated ½ cup
Olive oil 2 tbsp

1. Grease a 9 x 12 pan. In saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil.
2. In a bowl, combine 2 cups of cool tap water with cup of corn meal.
3. Slowly whisk water/corn meal mixture into boiling water. Add salt. Continue whisking until it comes to a boil.
4. Reduce to simmer. Cook polenta, stirring occasionally 35-40 minutes, until thick, creamy and no longer gritty.
5. Stir in Parmesan until incorporated. Pour into pan. Chill 30 minutes or until firm.
6. Cut into triangles. Reheat in oiled sauté pan, brown on each side.

Unfortunately, we were rushed and didn't have time to try to cook each steak to different degrees of doneness, which is more of an eye/feel/experience thing that can only be learned by doing. Basically, if you salt correctly, if your flame is at the right hotness, a nice brown layer will form on the surface of the meat, indicating deliciousness.

SHELL STEAK WITH SIMPLE PAN SAUCE

Yield: 1 serving

Steak 1 each
Salt to taste
Shallots, minced 2 tbsp
Red wine ¼ cup
Beef stock ½ cup
Butter 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

1. Heat sauté pan, add oil, medium high heat.
2. Rub down steak on both sides with salt right before cooking. Place steak in center of pan. Cook 3-5 minutes on each side, depending on size of steak. Cook to medium rare.
3. Set steak on resting rack.
4. Add shallots to pan, soften in pan while scraping up fond.
5. Add wine. Cook until au sec.
6. Add beef stock. Cook away half of liquid, or until thick.
7. Add butter. Add salt.
8. Serve steak with pan sauce pour over top.

Next week, we spend the day dedicated to my personal hero, Pizza...

Cooking in Quantity

I really don't know what this poster in the school cafeteria was about. My supervisor didn't know, either. Something tells me I really don't want to know. Yum-o, I say. Yum. O.

The syllabus was all about stock and sauces, but we also needed to cook for PTA parent-teacher conferences tomorrow. Rather than be capped at 3 hours, we took 4 and a half to get it all done.

We started with a short lecture about mother sauces and the danger zone. The danger zone is 60 through 140 degrees -- the zone where bacteria will grow and multiply if given the three elements it needs: protein for food, moisture for environment, and low acidity. Stock has all three.

Bechamel, veloute, espagnol, tomato, hollandaise -- today we were making bechamel -- warm milk thickened with a roux. Roux is equal parts fat and flour, whisked while cooked to turn it into a paste. The darker it goes, the bigger flavor it'll have. This would be the base of our Mac n' Cheese....

MACARONI & CHEESE

Yield: 30 servings

Elbow macaroni 5 lbs
Butter 1 ½ cups
Flour 1 ½ cups
Whole milk 1 ¼ gallon
Salt & pepper to taste
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Cheddar, cubed 1 ½ lb
Mozzarella, cubed 1 ½ lb
Monterrey jack, cubed 1 ½ lb

1. Preheat oven to 350˚. Warm milk, but do not boil. Grease 4 large hotel pans. Bring enough salted water to a boil. Add pasta, cook until very al dente – 2 minutes shorter than package suggestion.
2. Melt butter and stir in flour to make a roux. Whisk in warm milk a ladle at a time to make white sauce. BTB RTS. Salt and pepper to taste.
3. Remove sauce from heat, stir in three cheeses. Combine with pasta and stir well. Pour into baking dishes.
4. Bake 45-60 minutes, or until top is desired crispiness. Rest 20 minutes before serving.

I had the kids taste the cheese sauce before and after adding salt and Worcestershire, really bringing home the importance of NEVER forgetting seasoning.

This was my own recipe -- the syllabus had a horrible recipe involving mustard powder. The teacher who lead this program the last two cycles stopped by and ate with us, and confided that the first time she taught this program, she stuck closely to the syllabus and all the kids pretty much were grossed out by the mac n' cheese. This recipe is pretty solid, except this was the first time I was using the ovens in this kitchen -- they ran hot, and they ran uneven. The final product was a little over-done, but still very edible, very rich and decadent, if not as loose as I would of liked.

Before class, I got chicken stock on the fire. We just had too much to do and this is a 4 hour affair, and I got whole chickens that had to be broken down without fuss or drama.

CHICKEN STOCK

Yield: 1 gallon

Chicken bones 8 lbs
Cold water 1 gallon
Salt 2 tsp
Mire poix, medium dice 1 lb
Sachet d’Epices 1 each

1. Rinse bones, place in stockpot, add water and salt.
2. BTB RTS
3. Simmer 2-3 hours
4. Add mire poix and sachet, continue to simmer 1 more hour, skimming scum as necessary
5. Strain. Use immediately (degrease by skimming if necessary) or rapidly cool and store for later use.

The mac n' cheese was done in one huge batch broken into three hotel pans. Once into the oven, I demoed the brownie recipe. One kid asked why we didn't use a double-boiler to melt the chocolate -- an excellent question. Because we were melting it with butter, it was protected by the water content in that fat. As long as we didn't boil it, we were safe over an open flame.

FUDGE BROWNIES

Yield: 12 servings

Butter 1 cup
Unsweetened chocolate 4 oz
White cane sugar 2 cup
Eggs 4 each
Vanilla extract* 1 tsp
Salt ½ tsp

1. Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease a 9x13 baking pan
2. In a 3-quart saucepan, met butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly until fully melted and incorporated.
3. Remove for heat, stir in sugar. Allow to cool slightly.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each.
5. Add vanilla and salt, stir well.
6. Fold in flour, mix minimally. Spread batter into pan.
7. Bake 30-35 minutes. Brownies are done when toothpick is inserted into center and comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.

*Can be replaced by scrapings of 1/2 vanilla bean

Since there is only four burners that are accessible at once, we broke into four teams and they made the brownies, with me looking over and giving guidance as we went. Soon enough, five trays of brownies joined the mac n' cheese in the oven.

Two students took on the Caesar Salad, and four students got to work on the green salad. The Caesar was pretty straight forward. First step was making the croutons...

CROUTONS

Yield: 1 lb

White bread 1 lb
Butter, melted 4 oz, or as needed
Salt 1 tsp, or as needed
Black pepper, ground ½ tsp (optional), or as needed

1. Remove the crust from the bread if desired. Slice and cube the bread into desired size. If bread is fresh, dry out cubes in over for 5 minutes before continuing.
2. Toss the bread, fat and season together on a sheet or hotel pan.
3. Bake at 450˚ until lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes

The great thing about this was that it was super simple, and the end result was INSANELY better than the crap you buy in a box, industrial croutons that are designed to be shelf-stable forever and taste like weird chemicals. The student who I was directing to flip and stir the croutons said she really did not like croutons. I picked one up and put it in her mouth by hand, and I could see the lights turn on in her eyes. THIS is why we cook from scratch and not buy a box. Sure, it's cheaper, but the real reason is that it is so much better. Rather than an industrial interpretation of what a crouton is, here she had the REAL thing for the first time, just as they were made when they were invented. True dat. Hollah.

CAESAR SALAD WITH CHICKEN

Yield: 10 appetizer servings

Romaine lettuce, chopped 1 lb
Croutons 12 oz
Sliced chicken breast 25 oz

Garlic. minced 1 tsp
Anchovy fillets 5
Salt ¾ tsp, or as needed
Black pepper, ground ½ tsp
Egg yolks 2
Lemon juice 2oz
Olive oil 10 floz
Parmesan, finely grated 6 oz, or as needed

1. Separate romaine leaved. Clean and dry thoroughly. Tear or cut into pieces. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
2. Prepare croutons and hold at room temperature until ready to serve
3. To prepare dressing, mash together garlic, anchovies, salt and pepper in a bowl to form a relatively smooth paste. Add egg and lemon juice and blend well. Gradually add olive oil, whisking as it is added to form a thick emulsion. Stir in Parmesan. Adjust with salt and pepper as necessary.
4. Pan-sear chicken right before service. Slice when rested.
5. For each serving, combine 2 oz greens with 1 floz dressing, tossing gently until evenly coated. Garnish with a few croutons. Top with 2.5 oz sliced chicken.

The dressing's key is to mash the anchovies and garlic until it is homogeneous (a word I had to define for my student, which was cute!) before making the emulsion. Because of a student allergic to seafood, we had to serve the salad with the dressing on the side.

The other four got to work on the tossed salad for the meeting tomorrow. A lot of knife skills involved here, and I demoed how I wanted each element. I had them peel the celery, just like my wife likes....

SIMPLE GREEN TOSSED SALAD

Yield: 20 servings

Boston lettuce, chopped 3 head
Romaine lettuce, chopped 3 head
Carrots, peeled, rounds 2 lb
Cucumbers, peeled, sliced, quartered 4 each
Red onion, diced 2 each
Red peppers, diced 2 each
Celery, peeled, sliced 1 head
Simple red wine vinaigrette 2 cup

1. Toss all vegetables together in a large bowl.
2. When ready to serve, pour vinaigrette over, toss, serve immediately

We made the vinaigrette almost as an afterthought, and the student muffed it, with too little seasoning....

SIMPLE RED WINE VINAIGRETTE

Yield: 2 cups

Red wine vinegar 4 oz
Dijon mustard 1 tsp
Olive oil 2 lb
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Sugar to taste

1. Combine vinegar and mustard in an anchored bowl.
2. Whisk in oil gradually.
3. Season with salt, pepper and sugar.

We didn't have time to muck around with it, but will remake it tomorrow when we prep for the event.

The class ended with the four burners given over to saute pans. I demoed how to butterfly a chicken breast by cutting it length wise but leaving the two halves attached, so it could be opened like a book. Uncut, the cutlets would be too thick to cook all the way through and would have to be finished in the oven, which we just did not have time for.

SAUTEED CHICKEN BREAST

Yield: 1 serving

Chicken breast, boneless, skinless 1 each
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Vegetable oil ½ floz

1. Season chicken cutlet with salt and pepper
2. Heat sauté pan over medium-high heat, then add oil
3. Saute cutlet for 2-3 minutes per side or until done.
4. Rest ½ the time of cooking before serving or slicing.

The magic moment is when you turn the meat over and everyone sees the browning. A typical home cook will keep on moving the meat and no browning happens. It's a sexy "ooo" moment. Every one cooked at least one breast, and another student sliced the meat, to which I had to hold her up as to not cut unrested meat.

I dashed out a bit of whipped cream to go with the brownies as the kids cleaned up.

WHIPPED CREAM

Yield: 16 servings

Heavy cream 1 cup
Vanilla extract* 1 tsp
Confectioners sugar 1 tbsp

1. In a large bowl or mixer with whip attachment, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form.
2. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like.

*Can be replaced by scrapings of 1/2 vanilla bean

We sat, ate with the supervisor and last year's teacher, and everyone seemed pretty happy with the food. I didn't like the over-doneness of the baked goods, but in the end, every one dug it so I didn't want to disrespect the student's efforts. Just because I'm hard on my own cooking doesn't mean I should be a spoilsport. Tomorrow we reconvene to make sandwiches, dress the salad, reheat the baked goods, plate the food and try to impress the parents...

No, that's not ice cream....

Above is a picture of cold shmaltz, a.k.a. rendered chicken fat. A byproduct of making chicken stock, it floats to the top and, when refrigerated, solidifies, and is easy to remove. It's then reheated again over the stove; all non-fats evaporate and all non-fat solids burn and float to the bottom. Pour off the hot fat, refrigerate, and it's good for a year or so (if kept in the back of the fridge). And what better way to make some icky bitter greens magically delicious than adding a wallop of chicken fat...?

Today's class was about vegetable cookery, but really, how many vegetables can you really get into on 3 hours? First thing, we sat and I briefly lectured. What is cooking? Applying energy via heat to food to change its composition. There are only two classes of cooking: dry heat (baking, roasting, broiling, frying in all its forms) and moist heat (boiling, steaming, simmering). There is a bastard third, combination heat (braising, stewing, where something is browned in dry heat then moisture is added to finish).

Then we went quickly from abstract to solid, reviewing the recipes of the day...

“MASHED” POTATOES

Yield: 10 servings

Russet Potatoes 4 lbs
Butter, room temperature 6-8 oz
Milk, hot 12 fl.oz.
Heavy cream, hot 12 fl.oz.
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

1. Scrub, peel and cut potatoes into large pieces.
2. Boil or steam until tender.
3. Drain and dry over low heat or on a sheet pan in a 300˚ oven until no steam rises from them.
4. While hot, puree potatoes through a food mill or potato ricer into a heated bowl.
5. Add butter and mix into potatoes by hand or with the paddle or whip attachment of an electric mixer until just incorporated. Add milk, cream, salt, pepper by hand until smooth and light
6. Spoon potatoes onto heated plates or transfer to a piping bag and pipe into desired shapes.

The class started with knife skills. To save time, we didn't peel the potatoes; we just turned dirty round potatoes and rectangular skinless beauties into large dice. I already had a large pot of boiling water on, we dumped the potatoes in and I assigned a student to watch the potatoes, taste a cube for tenderness ,and call me when ready. I had the other students start the knife work for the next recipe -- while others drained the potatoes and pushed them through the food mill into a bowl heated from the ledge on top of the oven. I showed them the correct way to fold (with a rubber spatula, from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock around the edge, then flip to the middle. Turn the bowl clockwise 90 degrees, repeat). Then came the butter and half-and-half...and finally the consistency was right. I had everyone taste; then I salted th dish and everyone tasted again and...what they tasted blew their minds. As I had promised, these were the best mashed potatoes they'd ever had!

VEGETABLE STOCK

Yield: 1 gallon

Vegetable oil 2 fl.oz, or as needed
Mire Poix*, large dice 3 lb
Nonstarchy vegetables* 3 lb
Salt 2 tsp
Cold water 1 gal
Sachet d’Espices* 1

1. Heat oil in large rondeau or stock pot and add mirepoix, vegetables and salt.
2. Cover and sweat the vegetables 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add water and salt. Simmer 15 minutes.
4. Add sachet, simmer 10 minutes.
5. Strain the stock. Degrease by skimming if necessary. Use immediately or cool rapidly and store for later use.

*Mire Poix: 2 parts onion, one part carrot, one part celery
Non-starchy vegetables like leeks, tomatoes, garlic, etc.
Sachet d’ Espices: Enclose the following in cheeseclothe, bound by kitchen twine
3 to 4 parsley stems,
1 sprig of thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme,
1 bay leaf,
1 tsp cracked peppercorns

In the lecture I told them about mire poix, the mix of vegetables that are sauteed first before adding other things to add a certain flavor. It's French, but every culture has a version, like Spanish Sofrito (onion, green pepper, garlic) and New Orlean's Holy Trinity (Onion, bell pepper, celery) and the idea of stock -- a flavorful liquid that can be cooked with that brings an intensity of flavor rather than a dilution of flavor. A lot of soup-chops, and another student assigned to turning the veg in the stock pot until soft. We made a sachet, covered in cold water, then we were off on the next recipe. (Next week, we're going to make vegetable soup with the stock...)

We made tomato concasse. How-to: Score the bottom of the tomato, drop in boiling water for about 30 seconds. Shock in ice water to prevent any serious cooking. Peel off skin, which now comes off easily. Cut into quarters and cut out all the jelly and seeds, so just bare solid tomato flesh is left. This can be used in stock and soup, without generating scum, papery skins or bits of seeds floating everywhere.

SWISS CHARD WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS

Yield: 6 servings

Olive oil/Sesame oil/butter/ shmaltz 2 tbsp
Onions, thinly sliced 2 medium onions
Salt A pinch or two
Swiss chard, stems removed, 1” x 4” chiffonade 1 bunch
Kalamata olives, pitted, rough chop ½ cup
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

1. Bring a pot of well salted water to a boil
2. Heat large skillet over medium heat, add oil
3. Add onions, stir to coat with oil and salt
4. Continue to cook onions, making sure not to burn or brown. If they turn brown within 5 minutes, reduce heat. Cook 20-25 minutes until caramelized (a golden brown color). If they get to dry, add more fat.
5. When water is at a rolling boil, add Swiss chard. Cook to tender, 2-4 minutes
6. Shock chard in a bowl of ice water, drain and remove all excess water.
7. Stir chard into the onions, cook until excess moisture has evaporated and chard is heated through, 2-3 minutes
8. Toss with olives and salt to taste. Serve immediately.

Everyone sliced onions, then two students de-veined and made chiffonade of the chard. Chiffonade is rolling the leaf into a cigar-like shape and cutting it thin -- it results in more even, elegant cuts and prevents bruising of more delicate leaves. Four others got on the oven and I introduced them to the saute pan. Heat the pan first then add the oil. As I discussed in the lecture, one of the least healthy things you can do is eat scorched and burnt oil. Not only does it taste bad, it has all sort of cancer-causing substances. Heat the pan first, then add the oil. Test with a piece of onion, then go for it, constantly moving with tongs, paying attention to color, adjusting the heat if it's browning too fast or not fast enough.

For interest, I had each one use a different fat -- olive oil, butter, sesame oil, and chicken fat that I brought in from home. The butter took noticeably longer, due to the water content in this fat -- the others were all lipid, but butter is actually a mishmash of fat, proteins, sugars and water. I had them taste, looking for the sweet flavor. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go the full caramel, but they were good.

The chard was blanched and shocked, dropped into boiling water for 3 minutes, then drained and dropped in an ice bath. I explained blanching -- and how, in this case, doing so cooks the leaf and removes tge bitter elements. The shock of the ice stops the cooking abruptly, and locks in the bright green color. Squeezed out, it was tossed in the pan with the onions with some chopped olives, then seasoned.

After cleaning, we sat down to eat and it was a lot of fun eating each of the chards with the potatoes. Everyone was gaga over the potatoes and took some home, but no one liked the chards enough to take any home. To my taste, it tasted more like caramelized onions and olives which had greens in it as an afterthought, but STILL they didn't dig it. They did agree that chicken fat tasted the best, but not enough to finish the plate. You can bring a horse to water....and you can make a healthy vegetable extremely unhealthy, but a teen still won't dig it!

Next week, salads, which will be matched with sauteing of tender cuts of meat. And that damn vegetable soup. Soup n' salad!

Sauté (You Know I Got Sole)

Today's lecture was brief, basically a run-down of the recipes we would be making today, the third day of sauté. The sautéd spinach was simple -- a lot spinach, triple washed, salted, enough to crowd the pan to prevent the copious amount of water from splattering in the hot olive oil. Move around until wilted, then set in a strainer to get out the extra liquid out.

The Paillasson de Pommes de Terre is basically julienne potatoes (we used the mandolin for the first time today during mise prep) tossed in clarified butter, lemon juice, and salt. It is placed in a hot iron skillet with more clarified butter and allowed to brown into one big pancake. It is flipped once and if too thick, finished in the oven.

Dover Sole a la Meuniere (in the style of the hat maker) found us fabricating a whole sole, removing the head, then the skins and tail. It is dredged in flour then sautéed. The fish is removed and lemon supremes, whole butter and parsley is thrown in to brown a bit, then this pan sauce is served with the fish.

We sautéed a tranche of salmon, and served with a Salsa Verde (parsley, basil, garlic, capers, sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt, all pureed) that we finished during mise. Additionally, we cooked up a loin of lamb with a simple pan sauce using reduced lamb stock.

Today, mise went quick, with 2LG, RH and N coming up to me and asking what was to be done next when they finished their task. Neasy peasy, quick n' easy! N revealed that he too could not kill the lobster, and that he is a commis (unpaid helper) at Café de Artistes, where he preps the mise for the line cooks every weekend. I thought he was a bit of a goof with a little attitude, but he actually rocks harder than most kids in the class.

Chef demoed the Sole, then we went at it. My fish's skin kept on breaking when I tried to pull it off with my knuckles, and Chef observed I had an unusually thick-skinned fish. I did a 2nd and it went a bit smoother.

We all started with the potatoes, and they took a surprisingly long time to cook, maybe 25 minutes. RH and N were able to flip it in the pan, I copped out and turned it out onto a plate then slid it back in the pan. The sole looked quite elegant in the pan, and when presented to Chef M, he showed me how if it's cooked properly, the 4 fillets will literally fall off the bone with a little tug. Indeed, mine did, and the golden crust formed by the dredge made this light-tasting but flavorful fish something I want to cook for company -- it's a showpiece (well, for me, anyway!)

The salmon looked nice, but confirmed to me that it's taste is a bit of a boring note, overplayed and oversold. The lamb's preparation was simple sautéing and making a pan sauce, but the reduced lamb stock we used really kicked it over the edge in terms of flavor. I thought I had over cooked it on one side, with a thick caramelized crust that almost looked burned, but when sliced thinly it looked quite attractive, and Chef gave me kudos for getting the meat to proper medium-rare.

Tomorrow, deeper into the grease with pan-frying.

ADDENDA:
After class, I went down to God's Love We Deliver for my first volunteer shift in the industrial kitchen they use to pump out thousands of meals a day. At first I was put on a line assembling desserts, plopping a bit of pudding in a container, putting the lid on, placing on a tray, etc. Everyone was very nice and a bit on the grandmotherly side. Soon, a fellow student from my class showed up and grabbed me away to the the knife area, where 5 of us rough chopped potatoes and broccoli. Today I literally doubled the amount of broccoli I've chopped in my life.

In our group was Hillary Cruz, Miss Teen USA. She was oddly tan and strangely over-made up, but nice enough, even if she didn't quite know how to hold her knife correctly. We all chatted, and I asked her what was it that clinched her win for the crown. She said that it's probably because she's not a typical pageant girl. I told her I wished Britney Spears would have embraced her short hair when she had her break-down, to join in the fight against the tyranny of the uniformity of popular female beauty. (She had no witty retort.) She was on the Rachel Ray Show with Miss Universe and Miss USA recently, so what do I know? Oh well.

Met with Ilsa yesterday, we spoke about my fast and how I'm feeling, health wise. I'm starting to feel a little bit lighter, though I definitely don't look any different. Ilsa is a bit concerned about my blood pressure -- since cooking in school, it's become very explicit to me how much salt I'm taking in. This morning before breakfast, I read 132/100 , definitely not that great. Gonna measure the next few days before I book a check up.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, 3 buttermilk pancakes, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Wacked 2 in the freezer.

AM TASTINGS: 10:30-11:30am, 1 Paillasson de Pommes de Terre (1 bowl), Dover Sole a la Meuniere (.5 bowl), Tranche of Salmon with Salsa Verde (.25 bowl), Sauteed Loin of Lamb with Pan Sauce (.25 bowl), water, total 2 bowls, hunger 4/5

Fullest I've gotten from class yet.

DINNER I: 5pm, large baby spinach salad, large piece of chocolate babka, seltzer, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER II: 8pm, 3 sea scallops in pan sauce with short grain brown rice, small scoop of agave cashew vanilla ice cream, half glass white wine, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
Used store-bought frozen fish stock, much better than the stuff in the tetrapacks. Didn't have clarified butter, so the butter solids browned a bit, but was still quite tasty. Nice to see I can replicate with some panache the stuff we're doing in class. The wifey was impressed.

Sauté (Napoleon I am I am)

At the start of class, Chef reviewed the method of sauté and the method of making a pan sauce. In a modern kitchen, pan sauces take too much time -- the flavorful fond is trashed in favor of a ladle of pre-made sauce kept warm until needed.

Four recipes were up today: Pommes Persillade (sauteed cubed potatoes with garlic and parsley), Brined Pork Tenderloin with a Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, Sea Scallops with Onion Compote and Sautéed Strip Steaks with Aguardiente (a funky licorice-flavored liquor). We were broken into new teams, and I got 2LG and RH again, with the addition of a fourth member: a kid with a lip ring who calls me "Bullwinkle" because my hair curls out of my commis cap. Let's call him Natasha.

First up was knife skills, particularly a medium-dice potato for Pommes Persillade (which will be on our practical this module.) If the potatoes weren't evenly sized, the browning would also be uneven. We all spent the first hour collecting our mise. On the board it said Potato, Garlic, and Parsley minced for Knife Skills. I finished my drills first, and went about collecting mise. When I get back a few minutes later, all three others in the team were mincing shallots -- way more shallots than we'll need. Once again, I step into supervisory role -- no one else was doing it. Natasha then nick-names me Napoleon. 2LG and RH immediately step into line, and N follows their lead. Yes, our mise is complete before everyone else, though N burns the carmelizing onions (not enough fat) and I redo it for him. N looks a bit sheepish, so I tell him that he's rocking -- he gives me a quizzical look and asks me why I said that? "Because despite the step back, we're ahead of the curve and totally rocking, thanks in part to you!" He continues to call me Napoleon, but with a little affection. It's easy getting 20- year-olds on your side!

I assigned different tasks while I sorted the mise: 2LG cleaned the scallops, N got the pork into the iced brine and into the fridge, RH got our liquors into squeeze bottles and roasted the red peppers. For the scallops and pork, the team puréed the sauces and placed them into bowls above the stoves to keep warm till we needed them. A round of cleaning, double checking the mise, a demo from Chef M how to do the potatoes and steaks properly, and we were off sauteing.

First up we did the potatoes. Getting those little cubes of starch evenly golden in clarified butter, hitting them with the garlic/parsley mix, then seasoning with a light hit of salt....like delicious little french fry cubes, garlicky and happy.

The scallops were surprisingly easy, first dredging them in a flour and cumin mix then sitting still in clarified butter in the pan for a few minutes on each side gave them a wonderful golden crust. The onion compote was a bit odd tasting, but Chef gave it a thumbs up. I look forward to making these scallops again for B, though perhaps with an interesting stock/butter/parsley pan sauce.

The pork tenderloin was trickier than I thought, especially considering that I've made myself pork tenderloin many times for myself and guests. After taking out of the brine, it's wetness splattered in the hot fat, and prevented a good fond from forming. After sauteing for a good 3 minutes on each side, the center was till too rare and had to be finished in the oven. According to Chef M, it was still a bit too pink in the middle but I thought it was perfect....I like more pork on the medium rare side, though that freaks some people out.

The steak I totally muffled, making my pan too hot and browning the surface too fast and dark while leaving the center of the steak a tad far from medium rare. There was no time to try it again, though I definitely now have a better feel for what is a too-hot pan and what is a too-cool pan.

After class, I attended a 1-shot seminar in butchering a whole spring lamb. The entire carcass was laid out in front of the room, with mirrors above so all could get a good look. Weird seeing it in one big animal-shaped portion, and even weirder seeing it become chops and loins and racks before our eyes. I know a lamb becomes about 50% trim, and here watching him toss pieces off left and right brought the point home -- our meat consumption is insanely wasteful.

After butchering, several pieces were grilled and cut up for us to taste the different flavors of the different cuts. As expected, the loin was soft and mild, and the shoulder was a bit tougher but 5x more flavorful. I definitely want to experiment was some cheap tough meats cooked long and slow...

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, banana, .25 bowl, hunger 2/5

A nap yesterday afternoon threw me off. Slept 6 hours, feel imbalanced. Only ate the banana so I wouldn't get too uncomfortable later.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, piece of french bread, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM TASTINGS: 10:30am-11:30am, .5 bowl of Pommes Persillade, .5 bowl of 2 sauteed scallops over onion compote, .5 bowl of sauteed pork tenderloin over roasted red pepper sauce, .25 bowl of steak in Aguardiente pan sauce, 2 cups water, total 1.75 meaty bowls, hunger 4/5

The brined pork was salty, everything else was seasoned with salt for the Chef's taste - very salty.

PM TASTING: 2:30pm, 4 small pieces of grilled lamb from various parts of the lamb, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5
The loin was tender but relatively mild. The chuck (shoulder) was pretty delicious, if a little tough.

LINNER: 5:30pm, falafel on whole wheat, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, half pint of vegan cashew milk ice cream, small left over pulled-pork sandwich, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The cashew milk ice cream is made with agave, a low-glycemic sweetner. Got a lot of stuff do do this evening and am tired, hope it keeps me up a little.

Sauté and Pan Sauce (Bad Meat Meets Good Sauce)

Today marked the second module of our 6-module education, again with Chef M. He started by giving a stern warning about how he'll be increasing his monitoring of sanitation and safety, as our kitchen is about to become increasingly hectic. I was reminded of the stern warning my elementary school teacher gave on the first day of the 5th grade, while we were lined up in the hallway, about to enter our new classroom for the first time -- we had it easy in 4th grade, we were told; but now we're really going to have to work hard...and make superior macaroni-art photo frames. Or something.

Sauté is defined as a high-heat, dry-cooking method using a small amount of fat to cook a tender cut of meat. Pretty much all sea food other than cephalapods fall into this category. This preparation is done in a heavy-bottom pan on the stove top (unless the meat is thick, in which the meat and pan can be placed in an oven to finish.) While sautéed dishes are popular on the restaurant menu, they can be a bit of a nightmare in the kitchen. Sautéed food is lightening quick, involves the more expensive cuts, and makes it easy to to ruin many dollars fast. A line cook's sauté station must be organized and everything close on-hand in order to reach the proper state of doneness (rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, well-done.)

The proper pan for sauté is either a sauteuse (a sauté pan with rounded sides) or a sautoir (straight sides.) Chef says the sautoir is more for pan-frying; the straight sides have less surface area and collect moisture that drips back into the food (the purpose of sauté being the elimination of moisture.) Correct size is key: the pan should be filled, but items should not touch one other. Too much space will cause the fond (the yummy caramelized bits on the bottom of the pan) to burn.

There is no hard and fast definition of "high heat". It depends on the thickness of the meat, the type of fat used and its smoke point, the coating of the meat, the personality of the stove, etc. etc -- in other words, something that is learned only by feel and experience.

For class purposes, all red-meat is to be cooked medium rare, all poultry to be cooked well-done, and all pork to be cooked medium to medium well.

The purpose of a pan sauce is to recapture all the flavor that would otherwise be lost to the pan and add moisture back to the finished dish.

Then, we broke into teams. RH, SH, and I prepared our mise -- shallots finely diced, pans of chicken (huge and full of hormones), and steaks (chuck steaks, tough and cheap, good for practice); red and white wine in squeeze bottles; one pan of salt and another with butter; clarified butter, chicken stock. and veal stock kept on the stove hot.

The metal table was pulled close to the oven, so we could cook and only turn around half way to reach our mise. We started with chicken. First, heat the pan to make sure it's dry. Add enough clarified butter to cover the bottom, make sure it's hot and wavy. Salt the meat, then place in pan, south to north to allow the splatter to head towards the back splash. Do not move meat, allow to form fond. When the cooked color crawls up over the sides of the meat, time to turn over. Both sides should cook the for approximately same time, with no line of pink on the side. If there is, it needs to be finished in the oven.

Take meat out and place onto a rack to rest -- if it's not on a rack, it'll sit in its own juices and get mushy. Add a few spoonfuls of shallots in the pan and soften. If there is not enough fat in the pan from the chicken, add clarified butter. Soften, then deglaze with a few squirts of white wine. Reduce by half, then add a few ladles of chicken stock, and reduce to nappé (thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon). Season to taste with salt, then plate. Straining the sauce will give a more formal appearance; save the sauce for possibility of burning a few bits of fond. Never sauce over the meat, always around and/or below it.

The steak is a similar method, except red wine and veal stock are used, the meat has a lot more fat in it, and cooks a lot quicker. These simple pan sauces were surprisingly delicious, which drives the point home of how important good stock is to this cooking. Someday, I may have to ask a butcher if he'll sell me a bag of bones, and then I can practice making my own stock, followed by ice baths and rearranging the freezer. The cuts of meat we used were crap, but if I were to get a top-shelf cut, making this at home, then wowing the pants off of anyone (well, my wife) would be pretty cut and dried.

After the break, more sauté and more involved pan sauces....

ADDENDA:
I participated in a City Harvest Volunteer Training session in midtown this evening. The specific program, called Operation Frontline, sets up series of classes in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods at schools, community centers, and the like. Run by three volunteers each -- a class manager, a nutritionist, and a chef -- the session gave us a basic appreciation of the hows and whys of healthy food are taught to kids, teens, underage moms, parents, and adults. Of the 15 people in the session, a solid half had nutritional educations or careers, one was an actual chef in the NYC school system, and 4 others had culinary degrees AND nutritional backgrounds. A little bell in my brain rang -- hmmmm, nutritional education. I should quiz Ilsa on her educational experience.

Speaking of my nutritionist Ilsa, today I began my 24 hour master cleanse -- no food for 24 hours except for a cup of laxative tea (a concoction of 14 oz water, 2tbsp fresh lemon juice, 2tbsp maple syrup, and a pinch of cayenne) before bedtime. My cynical side thinks this is a bunch of hooey, but my curious side wants to see if there is anything to it. I guess that curious side is going to land me in a cult some day!

If any readers out there have any experiences with this method, please chime in!

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, small bowl of granola with good milk, banana, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

TASTING: 10:45, sautéed chuck steak in pan sauce, 1/4 of a chicken breast in pan sauce, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Chuck is shoulder, not a tender cut of meat. The sauce helped make it delicious, but after that and the few bites of the (definitely not organic) chicken breast, felt a little queasy.

LINNER: 4:30pm, seiten, millet, hijiki and tahini sauce, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Lunch at the studio cafe with the HVS after a yoga session. Needed some balance after the morning meat festival

EVENING TEA: 12am, cup of 'smooth move' hot herbal tea
Tasted too much like licorice.